Mike Iveson Sci-Fi World Premiere to Play The Kitchen in May

The Kitchen is pleased to present The Tear Drinkers, the second musical work from beloved performer and Bessie-Award-winning composer Mike Iveson. The Tear Drinkers is a suite of sci-fi songs for six performers and piano; it follows four humans who have been abducted by the United States government and brought to an underground holding tank in New Mexico, so that the government can determine which of them is actually an alien from another planet masquerading as an earthling. Downtown performer Mike Iveson leads a team of exceptional artists, including pioneering video artist Charles Atlas, in a look at the private heartaches and private bathroom rituals of humans and aliens alike.

Performances of The Tear Drinkers will take place May 19-21, 24, 25 & 27 at 8pm at The Kitchen, which is located at 512 West 19th Street in Manhattan. Tickets are $20 and available online at thekitchen.org or by phone at 212.255.5793 x11. Critics are welcome as of May 21.

Iveson's first full-length play, Sorry Robot, had its world premiere at PS122's 2015 COIL Festival, Ben Brantley for The New York Times called the play "joltingly insightful" and "spilling over with original thoughts." The New York Observer called the show "weirdly wonderful."

The creative team for The Tear Drinkers includes, Charles Atlas (video design) and Parker Lutz (set and costume design). The show is produced by Ariana Smart Truman, and features performances by April Armstrong, Don Castro, Iveson, Courtney Williams, and Akyiaa Wilson.

The Tear Drinkers was developed at residencies at The Kitchen and via Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Process Space program. Rehearsal space was also provided in part by Clubbed Thumb/440 Studios and by Abrons Arts Center. The Tear Drinkers is made possible with support from Jerome Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, and in part by public funds from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

About the Artists

Mike Iveson is a performer, composer and 2013 Ethyl Eichelberger Award winner. He wrote the music for the plays: DOT by Kate E. Ryan (Clubbed Thumb/Ohio Theatre), Potatoes of August by Sibyl Kempson (Dixon Place, Red Eye Theater/MN), and You For Me For You by Mia Chung (Woolly Mammoth), as well as Kempson's Fondly, Collette Richland (New York Theatre Workshop/Elevator Repair Service). He has also composed music for many of choreographer Sarah Michelson's dances, including commissions for France's Lyon Opera Ballet (Love Is Everything) and for Mikhail Baryshnikov & the White Oak Dance Project (The Experts), as well as for many Michelson shows including Group Experience (PS122), for which he won a Bessie Award for music composition; Shadowmann (The Kitchen and PS122); Daylight (PS122, Walker Arts Center); and Dogs (BAM). As a performer he has appeared in Elevator Repair Service's Fondly, Collette Richland; Arguendo; The Select; The Sound and the Fury; and Gatz, and in a number of Sarah Michelson's dances, as well as shows by Richard Maxwell/NYC Players, New Georges, DANCENOISE, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Kate Benson, Tom Murrin/Jack Bump, Kristin Marting/HERE, Erin Courtney, Yvonne Meier, Aaron Landsman, Mike Taylor, and many others.

Charles Atlas is an artist and filmmaker who has been producing works since the mid-1970s, including media/dance works, multi-channel video installations, feature-length documentaries, video art works for television, and live electronic performances. Throughout his career, Atlas has collaborated with international performers and choreographers including Merce Cunningham, Douglas Dunn, Michael Clark, Leigh Bowery, Marina Abramovic, DANCENOISE, Yvonne Rainer, and Anohni.

Parker Lutz (Set & Costume Designer) Parker Lutz is a dancer and visual designer who has worked with artists such as Sarah Michelson, Paige Martin and John Jasperse. She has received two Bessie Awards. She is from Durham, North Carolina, and lives in Brooklyn.

Greg Zuccolo is a performer who has appeared with the likes of Michael Laub/ Remote Control Productions, Sarah Michelson, Tere O'Connor, Stanley Love, Tina Satter and Sibyl Kempson over the last twenty or so years. He makes his own work and contributes to that of others where ever he can. He was raised in Canada.